This Is the $14 Secret to Lupita Nyong'o’s Travel Skincare Routine

Jim Bennett/WireImage

A beach vacation can be full of fun in the sun, scanning the sand for seashells, and hours spent relaxing with a good mystery book. But it can also leave you sunburned, looking like a lobster, and painfully dealing with the after effects of not enough sunscreen.

Thankfully, actress Lupita Nyong'o has a travel skincare tip that can save your vacation — and the environment — even if you forgot to reapply.

“Sunscreen is the name of the game, but I think it’s also really important to find products that are not poisonous to the world we live in,” Nyong'o told The New York Times in an interview last week. “I carry calendula ointment, which is a good healer for burns, scrapes, scars. I had a terrible sunburn and the oil cured me of it in just one night. I swear by it. I guess that’s really the one thing I wouldn’t travel without.”

And she’s not alone in needing an after-burn treatment. In fact, 67 percent of people are not using nearly enough sunscreen, according to a study in the U.K. by The Hospital Group.

The pure calendula oil is great for moisturizing dry, chapped, and split skin, and is a natural antiseptic, which can help with healing of minor cuts and bug bites, according to the seller. It’s also great for pore detoxification and toning, and has anti-inflammatory properties that can help lessen swelling.

The pure oil has no additives or chemicals and is gluten free, cruelty free, and vegan. And while it may have a bit of a strong scent, many customers seem to feel its healing properties outweigh that. Like Nyong'o, Amazon customers are on board with this multi-purpose oil.

“This was recommended to me by my facialist. I got the worst sunburn of my life on spring break and was peeling like crazy and looked like I had been boiled in oil. This helped to [soothe] my skin, ease my discomfort and has really helped the new tender skin to heal,” wrote Amazon buyer locarb, adding that it “absorbs well.”

Fellow customer Hailey wrote that she has “sensitive skin and rosacea and everyone talks about how amazing calendula is for it, however I find calendula-infused oils to be a waste of money since I can easily make it at home (though I'm too lazy to.) This however I needed to get my hands on. Very very happy I tried it out. Smells just like calendula flowers (not a great smell, but a sign of authenticity) and relieves my inflamed skin instantly.”

At only $14 for a 2-ounce bottle (which also happens to be a TSA-approved carry-on size), it’s an inexpensive and easy way to protect your skin while traveling.

As for Nyong'o herself, she may not have any trips coming up, but she told the Times she really wants to visit Brazil. (Same, to be honest).

Courtesy of Amazon

Go to Amazon.com to buy the pure calendula oil starting at $14 for your next sunny escape.

The Evolution of a Long Term Traveler

Posted: 04/29/2014 | April 29th, 2014

There are downsides to long-term travel: the five-hour friends, the quick relationships, the solitude that leads to loneliness. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns.

But then nothing ever is.

Despite those occasional downsides, I think long-term solo travel is something people should try at least once in their life. Even if you don’t like it, try it — it will teach you a lot about yourself. It’s made me a far better and more awesome person, and I’ll go to the grave preaching its gospel.

But a couple weeks ago, I came home to NYC and created balance in my life. In finding that balance, I’ve come to a stark realization: I am no longer a long-term traveler.

The thought of spending extended time on the road doesn’t fill me with as much excitement anymore.

A month or two of solid travel? Sure.

More than that? No thanks.

I like having a home. I like this website and the work involved with it. I like having a stable set of friends. I like traveling around the country talking about travel and helping others.

Spending extended time on the road makes it hard to accomplish what I want to do with my life now. Everything suffers if I try to cram in too much stuff into the work/life/travel mix.

I still dream about travel all the time…literally.

When I’m asleep and dreaming, it’s usually about travel. I recently had such a vivid dream about losing my passport, I jolted out of bed and ran to where it was to make sure it was still there! (It was.)

Years ago, I wondered if it was possible to travel for too long. Back then, I didn’t know. I was four years into my travels, and the sky was the limit.

Four years later, I think the answer is yes, you can.

At least, I can.

I’ll never give up travel, but right now, extended trips are a thing of the past. The road may never end, but now I want an off-ramp and a rest station before I continue on it.

Long-term travel suited my lifestyle for a long time, but while I’m now even more passionate about travel, travel is not the only thing I want from my life.

As I said last week, there has to be balance.

Maybe one day, I’ll meet someone who will say to me, “Let’s spend five months wandering around Africa!” I’ll look at them and say, “Let’s spend six.”

But as I write this today, I look in the mirror and no longer see a long-term traveler, just a backpacking, budget one.

We get used to a certain way of life, and it becomes hard to change. Whether it’s cubicle life or life on the road, we identify with something. It becomes part of who we are.

What happens when I’m not nomadic? What happens to me?

There’s a quote that says, “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” My harbor is the road. It’s my comfort zone.

But as I soon enter my thirty-third year of living, I no longer cling to that. It’s been two years since I wrote about “the end of my travels,” but I’ve finally come to terms with what I wrote there.

And I couldn’t be happier.

Continue reading with these posts:

How to Travel the World on $50 a Day

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Where to Go in Paris to Find Your Favorite Writers' Old Haunts

Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” The famed author lived in the City of Light during the 1920s, and wrote some of his prized novels while embedded in the gardens and cafes of the Left Bank.

South of the River Seine, the Left Bank was and still is the site of creatives — writers, poets, artists, and philosophers have claimed this neighborhood as their own. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Jean-Paul Sartre and countless others have lived, worked and reimagined society on its cobblestone streets. Intellects studying at the Sorbonne and modern-day bohemians can be found sipping coffee, brainstorming and creating together.

Related: Why It's Illegal to Take Photos of the Eiffel Tower at Night

With such an influx of talent, artists and small business owners began catering to these visionaries. At a historic bookstore, writers and poets can stay as guests provided they read a book per day and help out at the shop. At a popular café, writers can enter a literary contest where the prize is free champagne for life. And just outside the University of Paris, students rub the shoe of a well-known statue to ensure success on their exams.

Marie Segura, a literature expert and Sorbonne student who works with Localers helped us discover the unique hotspots sought after by professional and aspiring writers alike.

How to make your vacation feel longer

Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley

Originally published on June 8th, 2017.

Do you have a case of the Mondays? We all do.

That feeling of anxiety and dread on Sunday night or the night before any vacation ends is familiar to almost every adult human working 9-to-5. Suddenly, you’re caught wondering where the weekend or that blissful vacation went.

But sometimes when we’re working for the weekend, we can miss out on enjoying our time off. As much as we try to make the most of our free days, they always seem shorter and shorter.

What’s the problem? It’s actually how we’re perceiving time. But there are a few ways to make your vacations and weekends feel longer and more rewarding using some little tricks of cognitive psychology.

According to Marc Wittmann, a psychologist and the author of "Felt Time: The Psychology of How We Perceive Time," people on vacation often experience “the classic holiday effect.”

“Any interval feels longer if you have more memories stored. If you experience more memorable events, then time stretches,” wrote Wittmann.

Therefore, one of the ways you can stretch out how you feel on a break is by seeking out new experiences. Instead of going to the same old places like your everyday bar or shopping center, try going to a landmark you’ve never seen, partaking in an activity you’re always putting off, or finally going on the small getaway you’ve always thought about.

You don't necessarily need to jet off to some far-away land, but you can take a short road trip to a nearby town, or go to a flea market you’ve always passed by but never stopped at, or even just take a book to the park (if that’s not normally your thing).

“The first few days at a new and exotic location stretch considerably. That is, because we experience so many novel and exciting and emotional events, memory load increases; time stretches,” wrote Wittmann.

Wittmann also suggests that over-planning can contribute to us perceiving shorter weekends and vacations.

“Planning also speeds up the passage of time,” he wrote, “because there you’re always already in the future. You have this future perspective of your mind, and then you are actually not attending to what is happening right now.”

By staying in the moment, you open yourself up to spontaneous experiences. If you want to plan one or two things, there’s no harm, but keeping an agenda for every minute of your time off will only make your vacation go that much faster.

In a way, Wittmann is saying that improvising to keep yourself entertained stretches out your vacation time.

Turns out, time does not really fly when you’re having fun.